Getting Started

Welcome to HostGator!

Congratulations on signing up for a shared web hosting account with us.

Step 1: Determine Your Needs

Getting started with your web hosting account is not complicated. The first step is determine what you need to do.

Do you already have a web site or are you starting from scratch?
If you're starting from scratch, go to step 2 below.

Do you need to transfer your web site from a previous host?
If so, HostGator can help you with that.
Simply fill out the form at: https://transfer.hostgator.com/.
Once the transfer process is completed, proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Change Your DNS

In order to get your web site working, you must change your name servers. This is an easy, but necessary step you must follow to get started.

If you registered your domain name with HostGator during signup, we have taken care of this step for you.

If you have registered your domain name with another company (i. e. GoDaddy, NameCheap, etc.), you must follow the steps outlined on this page (http://www.hostgator.com/dns).

Once your DNS changes have been made, it takes roughly 24-48 hours for your web site to start resolving to HostGator's servers. To avoid downtime during the move, please read our moving page. If it takes longer than two days for your web site to start working, please contact our support team.

Step 3: Uploading Your Web Site

If you are using an FTP client, put in your site's IP address under the "FTP address" field. Use the username and password sent to you in your welcome email. FTP always runs on Port 21.

Once your FTP is connected, go into the "public_html" folder and begin uploading your site. To replace the default place holder page, you must upload an index.html in all lowercase lettering or delete the page and replace it with your own index page.

Please note that by default, you do not have an email address setup with HostGator. You will need to configure this yourself in cPanel (link below).

Step 4: Note These Useful Links

"Before propagation" as it is defined below is the point between when you sign up and when the changes to your name servers take effect (usually about 24 hours after you change your name servers).

"After propagation" is once your site is up and running normally.

During propagation you should use the "Before propagation" format.

Place:

Before Propagation:

After Propagation:

cPanel

http://12.23.345.67/cpanel

http://yourdomain.com/cpanel

Webmail

http://12.23.345.67/webmail

http://yourdomain.com/webmail

Web Site

http://12.23.345.67/~username/

http://yourdomain.com

Be sure to replace the information in red with the information from your welcome email.

Step 5: Get More From Your Hosting Account

Now that you have a hosting account with HostGator, you have a lot of choices of options:

Step 6: Get Help

HostGator is here 24/7/365 in case you ever have any questions. Our team of customer service representatives, server administrators, and sales professionals staff our Houston, Texas office at all times.

Looking for immediate answers? Check out our informative knowledge base. It has over 200 articles that address commonly asked questions and issues, including useful tutorials and video tours of some of our most popular features.

Want help from other HostGator customers? Our Hosting Forum is a great resource. With almost 20,000 members ready and willing to provide support and help on everything ranging from site promotion to Linux, the forum is a great resource.

When to use chat support:
Chat is a great method to use if you're looking for quick answers to simple questions and problems. Our chat technicians are more than happy to help you troubleshoot and understand issues relating to email, your control panel, FTP, etc. They can also help you with many sales and billing questions and explain most HostGator policies and procedures.

When to use ticket support:
If you feel your issue is more complicated and more technical than an average question, we suggest that you email our support team at support@hostgator.com.

Immediately after you email our support team, you will receive an email confirming we have received your email and that the issue has been placed in our 24/7 support queue. If you do not receive this email, we did not receive your support ticket.

Our best administrators work in our ticket system all the time. It is the best place to go to get your complicated issues resolved in a timely manner.

We do have a few suggestions for using our ticket system, though:

Only submit one ticket per issue. If you submit multiple tickets for the same issue, it actually slows down the support process.

Always be sure to include your primary domain name, username, and as much detail as possible. If a login or URL is needed to duplicate the problem, please include that as well. The more detail you provide to our administrators, the faster they can resolve your issue.

When to use phone support:
We are available 24/7/365 over the phone. Just like in chats, our phone support representatives can address most of your basic issues and concerns. The most complicated issues will require a support ticket to be submitted.

Step 7: Manage Your Billing

You will be billed automatically for your web hosting on the appropriate date after your purchase was completed (i. e. if you pay monthly, you will be billed monthly on the day of the month that you signed up). Please ensure that you have an updated credit card or PayPal subscription on file. If your bill is not paid in a timely manner, your service may be interrupted.

If you wish to cancel, upgrade, update information, get SSL certificates, IP addresses, or anything else related to billing, please go to our addons page. This web site lists all the information needed to proceed with those addons and steps.

HostGator Website Transfers

HostGator is committed to making it easy to transfer your site to your new hosting account. We can transfer website files, databases, scripts, and one free domain registration transfer.

What qualifies me for a free transfer?

HostGator provides free transfers for new accounts within 30 days of sign-up, and to newly upgraded accounts. For upgraded accounts it must be an inter-server upgrade to qualify. Please note that downgraded accounts do not qualify for free transfers.

Depending on which type of account you sign up for, we offer differing numbers of free transfers. Please refer to the chart below to see what we include for new packages.

Full cPanel Transfers is the number of cPanel to cPanel transfers that are included.

Max. Manual Transfers is the maximum number of Manual Transfers that are included with your account.

Total Free Transfers is the total number websites that we will move for you.

Account Type

Total Free Transfers

Full cPanel Transfers

Max. Manual Transfers

?
Shared

1

12

1

?
Reseller

30

302

30

?
VPS

Unlimited1

Unlimited2

10 per VPS level

?
Dedicated (Basic)

Unlimited1

Unlimited2

75

?
Dedicated (Standard, Elite, Pro)

Unlimited1

Unlimited2

100

1While we can do unlimited cPanel to cPanel transfers for you, depending on your account, you will have a limited number of Manual Transfers.

2Full cPanel transfers include all domains, Addon Domains, Subdomains, and cPanel settings. This will also include your emails and email accounts. Please note that this does require that your old host's cPanel backup generator to be active.

A few examples: An Aluminum Reseller account includes up to 30 free transfers. Out of this 30, you can have 20 cPanel to cPanel transfers and 10 Manual Transfers, or any combination of the two that totals 30 or less websites. Another example: A Pro Dedicated server includes unlimited cPanel to cPanel transfers, this means you can have 150 sites (or even more) moved. Also since there is an unlimited total number of transfers, you can utilize up to 100 Manual Transfers.

Unlimited Web Hosting

How much disk space and bandwidth will my plan include?

There are no set limits on the disk space or data transfer (bandwidth) that we provide in our shared and reseller hosting plans. We want you to have the resources you need to build a great online presence.

That being said, we do require all customers to be fully compliant with our Terms of Service and utilize disk space and bandwidth in the normal operation of a personal or small business website. While it is rare, we may need to put constraints on accounts that are using resources that impact other customers on the same server.

Typically, customers only run into issues if they use their accounts for storage or file sharing, which is not what our services are intended to support. In accordance with our Terms of Services the disk space and bandwidth you use must be integrated into the normal operation of your website.

For Example, customers who are affecting other clients or are using 25% or more of system resources for longer then 90 seconds would be in violation. Please see our TOS or contact us for complete details and restrictions.

What happens if I exceed usage?

If we have concerns about your account's bandwidth or disk space utilization, you will receive an email asking you to reduce usage.

Again, it is very rare for a customer who is managing a personal or small business website to exceed our usage policies.

This file was last modified 8/13/2013.

Money Back Guarantee

Customer Satisfaction is HostGator's #1 Priority!

We are confident you will be happy, and even offer you a full 45 day money back guarantee to try us out.

We're here to help you as well with 24/7 phone, live chat and helpdesk support by friendly support agents.

If you are not completely satisfied with our services within the first 45 days of your service, you will be given a full refund of the contract amount.

Please note that this is only for shared, reseller and vps hosting packages and does not apply to dedicated servers, administrative fees, install fees for custom software, or domain name purchases.

For more information please contact us at any time and we'll be happy to provide you more information.

Pricing Reflects A Discount On The First Invoice Only

HostGator often offers promotions, coupons and special offers to customers during their initial term. Please note that special offers are limited-time promotional prices that are available to new customers and are valid for the Initial Term only, and not for successive or renewal periods.

*VAT (Value Added Tax) is not included in our advertised price and will be charged separately and itemized on invoices and billing information. Standard VAT rates based on EU Member State regulations may apply. For more information on VAT, please refer to the Value Added Tax (VAT) knowledgebase article.

This site uses cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to the site you accept their use. Click here to change your preferences or to find out more about cookies.